Nightmare Before Christmas, The

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Edited by Filipa Antunes

Type: Studies
Subject: One Film > The Nightmare Before Christmas
Keywords: Tim Burton, animation
Publishing date: 2025 (February 20, 2025)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Collection: Animation: Key Films/Filmmakers
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 186 pages
6 x 9 inches (15 x 23 cm)

ISBN

979-8-7651-1361-5

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Book Presentation:
This edited collection considers The Nightmare Before Christmas as a milestone in animation and film history, considering the different layers of meaning and history of the film from pre-production to the present day. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1993) has become a key point of reference in negotiations of genre and the boundaries between mainstream and cult cultures, both on screen and in the spaces of fandom, and in original and retrospective reception contexts where it often becomes tangled with nostalgia. Contributors to this edited collection consider the film as a cultural object with significant impact on animation, representations of family and horror, and fandom and subcultures. Covering topics including representations of fairy tales, Christmas media, cultural appropriation, family horror, merchandise, theme parks, and food, this work explores the film’s ongoing cultural impact.

About the Author:
Filipa Antunes is Lecturer in Humanities, specialising in media and culture, at the University of East Anglia, UK. She teaches a range of modules around these subjects on the Humanities Foundation Year, the Liberal Arts degree, and the Film, Television, and Media degrees. Her main research interests are childhood and popular culture, especially when the two intersect; ratings and other forms of media regulation; boundaries between childhood and adulthood (and the culture of children and adults); and representations of childhood, parenthood, and family.Chris Pallant is Head of the School of Design at University of Greenwich, UK. He is the author of Demystifying Disney (2011) and Storyboarding: A Critical History (2015), and editor of Animated Landscapes: History, Form and Function (2015) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: New Perspectives on Production, Reception, Legacy (2021). He currently serves as President for the Society for Animation Studies.Brittany (Bee) Eldridge is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Pennsylvania State University, York, USA. They hold a PhD from University College London, UK. Bee is the Head of Communication for the Disney, Culture and Society Research Network (DisNet) and their Blog Editor. Along with Disney, their research focuses on modern fairy tales, adaptations, gender, queer studies, and archetypal studies. Their most recent works include “Forgive Me Mother for I have Sinned: Cinderella Meets Derrida's Forgiveness” (2020) and "The Erasure of the Elderly Hatter: 21st Century American Remakes of the Mad Hatter" (2024).Cristina Formenti is Assistant Professor in Film Studies at University of Udine, Italy. She is author of Il mockumentary: la fiction si maschera da documentario (2013), and editor of Mariangela Melato tra cinema, teatro e televisione (2016) and Valentina Cortese: un'attrice intermediale (2019). Her work has appeared in various national and international journals, such as Studies in Documentary Film, Alphaville, and Horror Studies. Dr. Formenti is also the co-editor of the journal Animation Studies and of the Bloomsbury series Animation: Key Films/Filmmakers and currently serves as President of the Society for Animation Studies.Rebecca Williams is Senior Lecturer in Communication, Cultural and Media Studies at the University of South Wales. She has published on television fans and audiences in journals including Continuum, Popular Communication, Television & New Media, Popular Music & Society, and Participations and recently edited Torchwood Declassified: Investigating Mainstream Cult Television (2013).

Press Reviews:
"What's this? Antunes, Eldridge and Williams rightly recognise The Nightmare Before Christmas as a milestone not just in animation and cinema, but in all areas of popular culture, and they have gathered a delightfully ghoulish chorus of expert voices to examine its meanings, contradictions, and path from marginalised cult obsession to mainstream Disney darling. Through diverse critical lenses and theoretical acuity, the essays within show that what gives The Nightmare Before Christmas its staying power is that it is not only a stop-motion film to be watched, but a transmedia phenomenon that can be touched, played with, worn, subverted, performed, and even eaten. The insights of this new volume make it an essential companion for all Jack Skellington disciples, whether student, scholar, or Hot Topic-adorned fan." ―Catherine Lester, Associate Professor in Film and Television, University of Birmingham, UK

"This collection is an essential resource for scholars and fans alike, providing a new and innovative look at this much-loved film. While the film's story and production are well-known to audiences, the collection's contributors reframe established perceptions of The Nightmare Before Christmas by embracing and exploring the complexity of the film's creation, reception, and meaning. Looking beyond the film itself, the collection also highlights the transmedia nature of Nightmare and its legacy, by foregrounding the participatory and dynamic ways that viewers engage with it, from tourism to food and fashion." ―Alissa Burger, Associate Professor English, Culver-Stockton College, USA

"The 1990s were a brilliant and incredibly exciting period for US animation as an art form: the glory days of The Simpsons, the return of Disney animated musicals, the rise of Pixar. But this period did not belong to cel animation alone: The Nightmare Before Christmas was a significant milestone in the rich tradition of stop-motion animation. This necessary new volume celebrates its aesthetic and narrative innovations alongside its robust, varied cultural afterlife both at Disney and among its many fans. The contributors' foci and frameworks are as diverse as film studies itself, providing an eclectic appreciation for this masterpiece. Under the skilled editorship of Antunes, Eldridge, and Williams, this collection makes a powerful case for Nightmare not only as one of US animation's most original and dazzling films, but also as one of its most enduring media franchises." ―Peter C. Kunze, Assistant Professor of Communication, Tulane University, USA, and author of Staging a Comeback: Broadway, Hollywood and the Disney Renaissance (2023)

See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic

See The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) on IMDB ...

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